Pride and Prejudice at Downton Abbey
by GriffinStar
Summary: An alternate version of how the romance between Lady Mary and Matthew could have developed. Contains spoilers for the series.
1. Chapter 1

_For my first Downton Abbey story, I've written a version of how I would have liked the story to have progressed between Matthew and Mary – in my opinion the ending was contrived to allow a second series, rather than let the story come to its own natural, romantic ending. _

_I own none of the characters of Downton Abbey._

**Pride and Prejudice at Downton Abbey**

**Chapter one**

She'd intrigued him from the very first time he'd seen her. How embarrassing that had been too. He would never forget. If only he'd known that she was there, he would never have uttered those words.

"Well they're clearly going to push one of the daughters at me. They'll have fixed on that when they heard I was a bachelor."

And then Mary had appeared, so beautiful, and so elegantly attired in her grey riding outfit with the burgundy cravat at her neck. For some reason he remembered her little horseshoe pin that she'd been wearing. It was strange the little details that stuck in his mind from that day.

"Mama has sent me down you to welcome you and to ask you to dine with us tonight," she'd told them frostily.

His mother had accepted the invitation.

"We'd be delighted," she'd replied in a friendly manner, and had then invited Mary to stay for some tea with them.

Mary had looked at Matthew with complete disdain as she'd replied,

"Oh no, you're far too busy and I wouldn't want to _push_ in," she'd said, before she'd swept out of the room.

For a moment he'd stood there dumbstruck and mortified, before he'd quickly gathered his wits and followed after her.

As she mounted her horse and looked down at him, he'd tried to apologise,

"Lady Mary, I hope you didn't misunderstand me, I was only joking."

"Of course," she'd said. "And I agree. The whole thing is a complete joke."

And then she was gone.

xXx

Of course he couldn't really blame her for being so horrid to him. He understood how galling and unfair it must seem to her that a complete stranger, by some stupid quirk of the law, was going to inherit everything – the title, the estate – and the fortune that her American heiress mother Cora had brought into her marriage to Lord Grantham. Matthew didn't think it was fair either, but as his mother pointed out, because of the entail, it was going to happen whether he liked it or not – that was just the way things were.

That evening, when for the first time Matthew and his mother went to dinner up at the house, and were introduced to everyone, his mother had been adamant that he was to behave appropriately – why give them any more cause to look down on them than they already had, she'd argued with him.

As they sat down to eat their meal, Mary had looked on, amused as Matthew had rejected Thomas's none too subtle advice on how to proceed as he served the food.

"You'll soon get used to the way things are done here," she'd told him condescendingly as her family looked on in discomfort. Matthew was determined not to be made to feel inferior, and so was not at all embarrassed in talking about his job as a solicitor in Ripon, fully aware that 'gentlemen' were not expected to have a job, to work to earn a living, and he rather enjoyed seeing their discomfort.

He'd already decided that they were not going to change him with all their snobby, class ridden expectations just because he had become the heir to the estate through no choice of his own. He couldn't however, help himself from admiring Lady Mary's spirit as well as her undoubted beauty – and after all it was jolly unfair on her, he had to agree.

The second time that they went up to dinner at the big house, Matthew had found it even harder hard to take his eyes off of Mary – once again she looked so elegant, so beautiful, but also …haughty was how he could best describe it.

Once again, Mary set about making it obvious that she didn't consider Matthew 'once of us'. As far as she was concerned, he was someone that could barely hold his knife like a gentleman, as she had told Mama just before dinner, horrified at the suggestion that she should consider marrying Matthew, because it would secure her future and give her a position. She was even more horrified to discover that it was her Granny, the Dowager Lady Violet Grantham, who had suggested the marriage, having assumed that she would be just as horrified at the thought as Mary was herself.

Mary took great delight in scoffing at the suggestion that Matthew rode, and was surprised when he corrected her that he did ride, but then admitted that he did not hunt, confirming her disdain of him.

As her rather bewildered family looked on, there then followed some banter between them on the subject of reading books, an occupation which she said pointedly was 'unusual, among _our_ kind of people'.

But rather than be offended, Matthew found it all rather amusing, and couldn't help himself, he managed to get his own back when Mary tried to be too clever, and told a story about King Cepheus having to sacrifice his daughter Andromeda to a hideous sea creature in order to appease the gods, not expecting Matthew to be familiar with it. But he was, and then proceeded to steal her thunder by finishing off the story for her by telling them about the rescue by Perseus. When Mary declared that Perseus rescuing the princess was rather more fitting than her being sacrificed to the sea monster, Matthew replied that it rather depended on the Princess and sea monster in question, as he looked rather pointedly at her, and Mary struggled to maintain her haughty air at his rather spoiling her story.

Maybe it was at this point that Mary's interest began to be piqued just a little – Matthew was actually rather witty and intelligent, and he certainly wasn't going to be intimidated by her or by anybody else. He wasn't apologising for not being from the same background or for having a job and working for a living. In spite of herself she found she rather admired him for it. He stood up to her, and it intrigued her. And he did have the most piercing blue eyes that she had ever seen, she couldn't help but notice.

Most men fawned over Mary because she was so beautiful – much to her sister Edith's displeasure. It didn't seem fair to her, Mary was such a bitch, she hadn't cared for poor cousin Patrick at all. When Edith had challenged her about not being very upset over the loss of her fiancé, she had declared that she had only been going to marry him if nothing better had come along in any case. Edith had_ really_ cared for Patrick, but of course he had had eyes only for Mary, who now wasn't even grieving for him as a fiancée should. She may be considered the beautiful one, but she was shallow and selfish, Edith had long ago decided about her sister Mary, and one day she would get her comeuppance.

_to be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

_I own none of the characters of Downton Abbey._

_**Warning**__ - this chapter contains spoilers if you haven't watched to the end of the series yet._

**Chapter 2**

Mary knew that as far as her sister Edith was concerned, there had never been any love lost between them. Chalk and cheese, that was how everyone described them. Mary thought Edith to be an unbearable prig, always pretending to be so good, so sanctimonious, just as she had been about the sad news of the death of cousin Patrick when the Titanic went down. Mary couldn't be a hypocrite and pretend that she had been madly in love with him when she hadn't. Edith seemed to think this meant that she was cold hearted, but she was simply being honest, she couldn't pretend to have feelings that she simply didn't.

With Edith, Mary was convinced that a lot of the problems between them boiled down to jealousy because Edith was the plain sister – she didn't have the same 'advantages' as Mary, that was how Mama described it. It couldn't be helped, that was simply the fact of the matter. Of course, darling Sybil was the luckiest of them all, she had both the looks, and the sweetest nature of any of them, even if she was rather too naïve at times, especially with her emerging political interests which infuriated Papa. But that would change as she matured; she was after all the baby of the family.

There had always been a competitive nature to her relationship with Edith. So when Mary couldn't be bothered with Sir Anthony Strallen when he was invited to dinner with a view to being a potential suitor for her, Edith made a point of setting her cap at him. Mary had been happily occupied chatting with Matthew during the course of dinner, and they had both collapsed in giggles at Sir Anthony's face when he had taken a spoonful of the salted strawberries.

However, when Mary realised that Edith was showing some interest in Sir Anthony, the devil in her character made Mary take this as a challenge, so she had to spoil things for Edith by flirting with him, easily distracting him from Edith's attempts to engage his attention.

But of course this had backfired on her horribly when Matthew had walked out on the evening, upset by her flirting with Sir Anthony, not understanding that she was only doing it to spite Edith, not him. So she had rather cut her nose off to spite her face she had realised afterwards.

Mary tried to apologise to Matthew when she saw him at the flower show later, but he snubbed her. He felt a fool for letting himself believe that maybe there was a chance that they could become more than friends by how well they had seemed to be getting along during the dinner party, and did not want to make the same mistake again.

Edith watched all this, and took great delight in rubbing salt in her sisters wound by pointing out,

"You didn't want him when he wanted you, and now it's the other way round."

Mary had to admit to herself that this time Edith was probably correct. For such a long time she had been against Matthew – for a large part simply because she had been told that she _should_ like him and _should _marry him, and her nature was always to rebel against being told what to do.

But one day not too long afterwards, when Mary was sitting in the grounds of Downton, Matthew came across her whilst looking for her father, and sat next to her and spoke with her, their quarrel forgotten because despite everything, he couldn't help himself, he was still drawn to Mary, like a moth to the flame.

As they talked, it occurred to Mary that Matthew was the only man of her acquaintance that didn't bore her, and in fact seemed to understand her nature and how easily she got bored when he suggested to her, with a teasing smile, that they should see more of each other if she liked a good argument.

When Matthew acted so bravely to look after Sybil following her accident at the riots during the by-election results, her eyes were opened as she saw Sybil look at him with real admiration, and it finally dawned on Mary what a wonderful man he really was, and that she really did care for him. Both her sisters saw him as a man worthy of affection - and so, at last, did she.

After Sybil had been safely delivered back to Downton, they sat together, just the two of them, while he ate the sandwiches that she had ordered for him. She teased him about always doing his duty, and asked him if he was only doing his duty when he flirted with her. Matthew told her not to play with him – and finally their feelings erupted and culminated in them kissing. She loved him, she finally realised, and he loved her too.

He proposed to her, and her first reaction was joy, but then she felt so terribly torn.

She wanted to say yes – but she was sure that if he knew about Kemal Pamuk, he would never have proposed to her. Didn't he at least deserve her honesty, to know the truth? What kind of a marriage would it be if they started off with this huge secret, she knew that it would gnaw away at her, even if he never found out about it. And with a sister like Edith, waiting to stab her in the back any chance she got, Mary thought that inevitably he _would_ find out.

No, he would have to be told before she could accept his proposal, but then he would not hold her in the same regard, and would probably withdraw his proposal in any case, and she didn't know if she could bear that. So she told him she needed time to think, which he was rather disappointed with, but accepted with as good grace as he could muster. She promised to give him her answer on her return from the season in London.

Everyone was delighted by the news of the proposal. Mama and Granny both urged her to accept Matthew without confessing anything to him, he was the answer to all their prayers as far as they were concerned, and they advised that most marriages had secrets that were best left undisturbed in any case.

But she simply couldn't do it to Matthew. It would be dishonourable, as if she was catching him with a lie. He'd never been anything but straight forward, decent and honest with her, he was a true gentleman, even if he hadn't been born one. He deserved the truth.

But before Mary could resolve her dilemma, events overtook matters. On her return from London, Mama was very surprised to discover that she was expecting a baby- Papa was initially completely taken aback and astounded, there having been eighteen years since their last baby. But then he had assured her that he was delighted. However, everyone realised that this could change everything. If it was a boy, Matthew would no longer be the heir.

When the family returned to Downton from London, Mary stayed behind with Aunt Rosamund, to have more time to think things through. Her heart told her to accept Matthew, that she loved him and wanted to be with him however things turned out. But her head urged her to be practical and realistic, thoughts echoed by her Aunt Rosamund, who didn't beat around the bush and told her frankly that she would never be happy as the wife of a solicitor, if it transpired that Matthew was no longer the heir to Downton. Mary thought that maybe she was right, she would make Matthew miserable if she couldn't settle, so would it really fair on him?

Finally when Mary returned from London and faced Matthew, she found that he had already made his decision about his future plans without waiting until the baby was born and finding out if it was a boy or not.

On hearing the news of the possible new heir to Downton, Matthew decided that he would go back to his previous life as a solicitor in Manchester. Robert assured him that he could stay in the house for the rest of his life, and that there was still a very important role for him to play at Downton – Robert had grown very fond indeed of Matthew. Having only fathered daughters thus far, Robert tried to reassure him that the expected baby was very unlikely to be a son.

But Matthew had made his decision and was adamant.

"I'm withdrawing my proposal of marriage to you, Mary. It is unfair of me to expect you make a commitment to me when my circumstances are so precarious," he told Mary when he saw her on her return from London.

"Matthew! You can't do that, surely it is up to me to decide whether or not I wish to marry you, however your circumstances may have changed," Mary declared.

"Well clearly you had your doubts in any case, which is why you hesitated, why you had yet to give me an answer," Matthew pointed out.

"It has nothing to do with your position, I assure you," Mary tried to tell him.

"Then why have you been so hesitant? If you truly loved me, you would have accepted me straight away. You knew that no objections would be raised by your father, mother or grandmother to our engagement. No, I cannot expect a woman of your birth to now be beholden to a man whose expectations have been lowered so far. It is the only honourable course of action open to me now, to withdraw my proposal and return to Manchester to resume my career there," Matthew insisted.

Much as he loved Mary, he had no illusions about her. She had always led the privileged life of the daughter of an earl, and would not be happy as the wife of a solicitor, of that he was certain.

"The baby may not be a boy, after all," Mary pleaded for Matthew to see reason. Her hesitation had seemingly proved all Matthews' worst fears, and she now bitterly regretted not sorting things out with him before all this had blown up.

"It doesn't really matter now, I've decided to leave regardless, I can't build my life on shifting sands," he told her.

"Don't my feelings count for anything? What if I told you the real reason why I've been hesitating? It isn't what you think," Mary was now desperate for Matthew to hear her out, even if it meant that he despised her, at least he would understand.

"What do you mean? What other reason could there be? You don't think I'm good enough for you and you were only considering my proposal as a dutiful daughter should, because your family saw it as a convenient solution to the thorny issue of the inheritance, and securing your future," Matthew told her brutally.

"No! no, Matthew that is not true, Surely you know me better than that. I could never marry a man that I did not care for," Mary told him.

"Ah well there's the rub then. You don't care enough for me to have accepted my proposal in the first instance," Martin argued back.

"There is something else that has been holding me back, that you need to know about. Something that I wish I didn't have to tell you about, something so shocking that I've been turning it over and over in my mind trying to find a way of making it less shocking….but I can't," Mary finally confessed, deciding that it was now or never to come clean with Matthew.

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"Kemal Pamuk," Mary forced his name out of her unwilling lips. There would be no going back now.

"What about him? I know you were rather taken with him, poor chap, and that you were understandably upset when…"

"Just listen to me, Matthew, what I am about to say is very difficult for me, so please don't interrupt," she told him.

"As you wish," said a very puzzled Matthew.

"He…he…came into my bedroom. He kissed me and then…and then…he told me…to trust him…" Mary's voice had dropped to a whisper as she confessed the shocking events.

Matthew was shocked beyond belief at what Mary was telling him.

"Are you saying…that he forced himself on you?" Matthew's voice was heavy with emotion as he tried to take in what Mary was telling him.

"No, not exactly….that is, I asked him to leave, but he wouldn't, but when he started kissing me, maybe I didn't really try hard enough to stop him…" Mary confessed.

"The bounder! The cad! Clearly he was intent on seducing you…that is… you didn't _invite_ him to your bedroom, did you?"

"NO! of course not, I really don't even know how he knew which room was mine, and I _did _ask him to leave, but he wouldn't…he must have got the wrong impression about me, he clearly thought I was more…rebellious that I really am…I've never done _anything_…Mary shamefacedly explained.

"His behaviour was totally inexcusable, he was clearly no gentleman, how dare he enter your bedroom, surely he realised that your father would not tolerate such behaviour towards his daughter?" Matthew was outraged.

"Oh but it gets even worse Matthew. Truly, you cannot imagine what happened next," Mary wasn't sure how to tell him the next event in the torrid saga.

"Pray continue then, I am all ears," Matthew told her, unable to imagine what could possibly be worse than what he had already heard.

"He… he suddenly made a funny gurgling noise as he…was kissing me, on my bed, and then he went a funny colour and went rigid," Mary had tried to block all the images of that night out, but now they were playing through her mind vividly, and she started shaking at the recollection. "I tried to rouse him and called his name, but…but he didn't answer. After a little while I realised that he was…dead," Mary could hardly believe that she had finally uttered these words to Matthew.

"Dead! Good God, but no one has said… he was found dead in his own bed in the morning, wasn't he? So how on earth…?" Matthew was trying to work out just what had transpired on that night.

"We carried him back to his room. That is, Mama, and I, helped by Anna. Mama did it because it was the only way to avoid a scandal, but I don't think she will ever forgive me for putting her in such an intolerable situation," Mary looked at Matthew to see how he was taking this latest revelation. He looked numb.

"You are telling me, that your mother helped you to carry Mr Pamuk's body, all the way from your room, back to his room in the bachelors' quarters?"

"Yes."

"I simply cannot comprehend…your Mother…helped you…carry this man's body from your bedroom, to avoid the scandal that would surely have ensued…"

"Yes. But I don't think she will ever forgive me for letting a man into my room," Mary whispered.

Matthew took a few minutes to digest all the information that Mary had given him, before making his pronouncement.

"You poor darling. You poor, poor little thing. That bastard had no right putting you in that situation, a naïve, innocent young girl, he knew you wouldn't dare to call out, to draw attention to him being there. I doubt very much that that was the first time that he'd played on a young girl's innocence."

With that he drew Mary into his arms, as she now wept uncontrollably.

"Hush now. I'm glad you finally told me, trusted me enough to be honest with me," he told her.

"Everyone urged me to just accept you, keep it secret, but I couldn't do that to you. Already there are whispers, rumours, I don't know how, but there are. I couldn't bear for you to hear something from somewhere else and think the worst of me. You do believe me, don't you, I never encouraged him in that way, when he took a liberty with me in the drawing room by kissing me I told him to stop immediately, but he must have thought I was teasing him or something, I really don't understand why he thought… he could…" Mary tried to explain.

"Oh I understand, I've met his sort before. Thought he could do just as he wished, and with his diplomatic connections, he must have thought he was untouchable. I don't hold you responsible at all Mary, but I suppose you could say that he got his comeuppance, and that maybe the Good Lord maybe made a judgement on him. I know one is not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but I think he got exactly what he deserved."

Mary felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. She'd confessed her deep, dark secret, Matthew knew about her lover now, but instead of condemning her or blaming her, he was enraged on her behalf, he was being supportive and well…wonderful. She realised now just how decent and honourable a man he truly was, and she loved him even more than she had before. She realised that she was fortunate in the extreme that he was a man who did not hold a woman responsible for the excesses of a man's desires, as so many others would have done.

"It still doesn't change things though, Mary. I do understand now why you hesitated to accept my proposal, but the facts of the matter still remain essentially the same – I will be a solicitor, you cannot be expected to be a solicitor's wife. In all honesty, you would not be happy in such a life, would you?" Matthew asked her.

"All I know is that I am not happy in the life I have now, I feel suffocated, having to do the endless rounds in polite society that are expected of me, never being allowed to do anything more useful than pretend to support some charitable cause or another. Because I truly know that I love you, I'm willing to compromise to be with you – can you say the same, do you love me enough? Isn't there a middle ground to be found somewhere? Papa has offered you lifetime security here at Downton, isn't that enough? Do you love me enough to accept that?" Mary pleaded with him.

Matthew knew with certainty that he wanted to be with Mary, he wanted to protect her and look after her. He loved her utterly and completely. She had shown great trust in him by confiding her secret to him, and he did now understand why she had hesitated in accepting his proposal. It showed her honesty, he knew that most woman in such circumstances would have accepted his offer without hesitation, as she had been urged to. Surely he should consider her feelings now, see if they could in some way find a compromise.

Did it matter if it turned out that he was no longer the heir to the estate? If he could find a role that was of value, that he enjoyed, that meant that he could stay here with Mary, surely it was only a false sense of pride that was preventing him? She had overcome her initial prejudice against him to now tell him that she loved him, that she would change her way of life just to be with him. Surely he could change too, for her?

"If your father can find a useful role for me here, on the estate, and if you truly feel that you could be happy settling with me in that role, whether or not I am the heir, then my proposal to you still stands, if you will still have me that is? Will you marry me, will you do me the honour of being my wife?"

"Yes, Matthew, yes, I will marry you," Mary told him, delighted with his change of heart and thrilled by his renewed proposal. They tenderly kissed and embraced, and then she slipped her arm through his as they walked back to the house, to seek her father out to tell him their news.

But they were not to know that all of these events were about to be over shadowed by the announcement of England's declaration of war with Germany…


End file.
